Weird Christmas Traditions Around the World

Weird Christmas Traditions With Monsters and Scary Helpers

Across Europe, the good gift-bringer often travels with someone much worse.

1. Krampus comes the night before Saint Nicholas In the Central and Eastern Alps, the horned Krampus is said to visit children with Saint Nicholas on the night of December 5, Krampusnacht. Nicholas rewards the good children; Krampus punishes the badly behaved ones with birch rods. ↳ Krampus
2. Krampus runs fill the streets with chains and bells At a Krampuslauf, a “Krampus run”, young men dressed as Krampus try to scare the crowd. Krampus carries chains, thought to stand for the binding of the Devil, and thrashes them for effect, sometimes with bells of various sizes. ↳ Krampus
3. Austria once banned Krampus After the 1932 election in Austria, the Krampus tradition was prohibited by the Dollfuss regime. Historians also doubt the popular idea that Krampus is pre-Christian, since the figure is not recorded before the 16th century. ↳ Krampus
4. France has a “Father Whipper” Père Fouettard walks with Saint Nicholas on December 6 in north and east France, southern Belgium and French-speaking Switzerland, handing out lumps of coal or beatings to naughty children. In the best-known legend he was an innkeeper or butcher who murdered three boys before Nicholas brought them back to life. ↳ Père Fouettard
5. Knecht Ruprecht carries a bag of ashes In German tradition, Saint Nicholas’s helper Knecht Ruprecht wears a black or brown robe with a pointed hood and may carry a long staff and a bag of ashes. He asks children whether they can pray, and in some versions he gives naughty children coal, sticks and stones while good children get sweets from Saint Nicholas. ↳ Knecht Ruprecht
6. Belsnickel came to Pennsylvania Belsnickel is a crotchety, fur-clad gift-bringer from the Palatinate region of southwestern Germany who visits alone, with a switch for naughty children and pockets full of cakes, candies and nuts for good ones. German immigrants brought him to Pennsylvania, where he was known in the early 1800s. ↳ Belsnickel
7. Perchta punished people who broke the Christmas fast In Alpine folklore, Perchta checks during the Twelve Days that spinning has been finished. Anyone who ate something other than the fish and gruel allowed on fast days risked having their belly slit open and stuffed with straw. ↳ Perchta
8. Greek goblins surface for the Twelve Days Greek kallikantzaroi are said to spend the year underground sawing at the giant tree that holds up the earth. From December 25 to January 6 they come up, climb down chimneys, spoil the food and milk and break the furniture. ↳ Kallikantzaros
9. A colander keeps the goblins busy One old defence is to leave out a sieve or colander. The kallikantzaros starts counting the holes but cannot say “three”, so it must start again and never finishes. Keeping the fire burning all night also keeps them out of the chimney. ↳ Kallikantzaros
10. In Italy a witch brings the presents The Befana, a witch-like old woman on a broomstick, brings gifts to Italian children on the night of January 5. Good children get sweets or toys, bad ones get coal, and many say she sweeps the floor before she leaves. ↳ Befana

Weird Christmas Food Traditions

The Christmas table hides some of the oddest rules of the season.

11. The Christmas carp lives in the bathtub In Central Europe, carp is a traditional Christmas Eve dish, and the carp is traditionally taken home and kept for a few days in the bathtub before it is cooked. ↳ Christmas carp
12. Carp scales go in your wallet In the Czech Republic and Slovakia, carp scales are a symbol of wealth and are put under the plate or in the wallet. An old Silesian custom puts the leftover fish bones on the fruit trees in the garden the morning after the meal. ↳ Christmas carp
13. Poland sets a place for a stranger At the Polish Christmas Eve supper, Wigilia, families set an extra place for the “unexpected guest”, and some put a handful of hay under the tablecloth for the manger. The meal starts when the first star appears. ↳ Wigilia
14. The animals get a Christmas wafer In the Polish countryside it was customary to share a special pink Christmas wafer with the livestock, dogs and cats, honouring the animals in the Bethlehem stable. ↳ Wigilia
15. Lithuania serves twelve dishes and keeps a chair empty The Lithuanian Christmas Eve supper, Kūčios, has twelve dishes, said to stand for the twelve apostles, and hay spread on the table. If a family member died that year, an empty place is left for them. ↳ Kūčios
16. Stir the pudding from east to west On Stir-up Sunday, the last Sunday before Advent, families make the Christmas pudding together. Everyone takes a turn to stir and make a wish, by tradition from east to west for the three wise men, and some add silver coins to the mix. ↳ Stir-up Sunday
17. The mince pie ban is probably a myth You will often hear that the Puritans banned mince pies. The Puritans did ban Christmas in 1647, but food historian Sam Bilton, writing for English Heritage, calls the mince pie ban a myth: there was no ban on any foodstuff. ↳ Mince pie
18. Christmas crackers really are small explosives A Christmas cracker snaps because of friction on a shock-sensitive strip of card, like a cap gun; one chemical used is silver fulminate. Tradition says Tom Smith of London invented crackers in 1847. ↳ Christmas cracker

Weird Christmas Decorations

A pickle, a pooper and a spider: some of the strangest traditions hang on the tree or sit in the crib.

19. The “German” Christmas pickle is barely known in Germany Americans often hide a pickle ornament on the tree, and whoever finds it gets an extra present or a year of luck. The custom is usually called German, but in a YouGov poll of 2,057 Germans, 91% had never heard of it. ↳ Christmas pickle
20. The pickle is probably American It is now thought to be a German-American custom from the late 19th century, possibly tied to glass ornaments imported from Germany from 1890. Berrien Springs, Michigan, the self-styled Christmas pickle capital, held a pickle parade from 1992 to 2005 and revived it in 2021. ↳ Christmas pickle
21. Catalan nativity scenes include a man pooping The Caganer, “the pooper”, is a figurine of a peasant in a red barretina cap with his trousers down, hidden in nativity scenes in Catalonia and nearby regions. The tradition goes back to at least the 18th century. ↳ Caganer
22. The pooper was meant to bring luck The folklorist Joan Amades wrote that people believed the Caganer fertilised the ground of the nativity scene, and that leaving him out brought bad luck. ↳ Caganer
23. Celebrities get their own Caganer Modern Caganers include politicians, royals, athletes and Santa Claus. A Barack Obama version went on sale days after the 2008 US election. ↳ Caganer
24. Ukrainian trees are decorated with spiders In Western Ukraine, small spider ornaments called pavuchky, usually made of paper and wire, go on the Christmas tree. A folk tale tells of spider webs on a poor widow’s tree turning to silver and gold, and it is said to explain tinsel. ↳ Legend of the Christmas Spider
25. Oaxaca carves giant radishes on December 23 On the Night of the Radishes in Oaxaca, Mexico, carvers turn oversized radishes into whole scenes for prizes. The formal contest began in 1897, and because radishes wilt soon after cutting, the carvings can only be shown for a few hours. ↳ Night of the Radishes
26. The Philippines builds lanterns 20 feet wide At the Giant Lantern Festival in San Fernando, the “Christmas Capital of the Philippines”, parol lanterns now measure about 20 feet and are lit by about 3,500 to 5,000 bulbs. Early versions were about two feet across. ↳ Giant Lantern Festival

The Weirdest Days on the Christmas Calendar

Lottery songs, wren funerals and dawn Masses: the season is full of odd dates.

27. Spain’s Christmas lottery is sung by schoolchildren The Spanish Christmas Lottery is drawn on December 22, and pupils of Madrid’s San Ildefonso school sing out the winning numbers and prizes. It is the biggest and most popular Spanish draw of the year. ↳ Spanish Christmas Lottery
28. A sung mistake once hid the jackpot In 1987 the children sang number 20864, with a small prize, but the draw officer saw the balls were really 20064, which had won El Gordo, the top prize. ↳ Spanish Christmas Lottery
29. Ireland once hunted a wren on December 26 On Wren Day, Saint Stephen’s Day, men and boys hunted a wren, the “king of the birds”, and paraded it from house to house in straw masks for donations. Today a mock or stuffed wren is used. The custom survives in places like Dingle, County Kerry, and the Isle of Man once held a funeral for the wren. ↳ Wren Day
30. December 28 is a day for pranks In Spain, Hispanic America and the Philippines, the Day of the Holy Innocents is for pranks, such as swapping sugar for salt. A fooled victim hears “¡Inocente, inocente!”, and major newspapers and TV channels in Colombia, Spain and Mexico often run fake stories, much like April Fools’ Day. ↳ Day of the Holy Innocents
31. Filipinos go to Mass before dawn for nine days Simbang Gabi is a run of nine Masses from December 16 to 24, held from as early as 2:30 a.m., first for farmers who worked before sunrise. A well-known folk belief says that if you complete all nine, God may grant a request made during the novena. ↳ Simbang Gabi

Weird Christmas Traditions We Cover on Other Pages

Some of the best-known weird Christmas traditions already have a home on LiveLore. Iceland’s Yule Cat, the thirteen Yule Lads, the Catalan log that is beaten until it “poops” sweets and the Welsh horse skull that knocks on doors are all in our Yule traditions. Sweden’s giant straw goat, which keeps getting burned, is in our winter solstice traditions, and KFC as Christmas dinner in Japan is one of our Christmas facts. If you want Krampus as fiction rather than folklore, read our Krampus stories or the scary Christmas stories.

How to Use These Weird Christmas Traditions

Read one weird Christmas tradition a night in December, turn the list into a “real or fake?” quiz, or pick a country for each guest at Christmas dinner. Each takes 15 to 30 seconds to read aloud. For the week after, our New Years traditions are sourced the same way, and the month itself is covered in our fun facts about December.

How We Checked These Weird Christmas Traditions

Every tradition links to the Wikipedia article we checked it against on October 23, 2026. Where the sources hedge, so do we: the Christmas pickle’s origin is disputed, the Père Fouettard murder tale is a legend, Perchta’s punishments are folklore rather than history, and the mince pie ban is contested. Some customs, like the wren hunt, now survive only in a changed form. If you spot an error, tell us through the contact page.

Weird Christmas Traditions Around the World — FAQ